The Management of Lateral Curvature of the Spine, Stooping, and the Development of the Chest in Phthisis (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1904 Excerpt: ...and depression of the chest. This harmful shape is found in the garments of even very young children. The evil influence of this forced position commences early in life, and by the time the child is brought to the surgeon at the age of, say, 5, 8, or 10 years, the body is already deformed by the constant influence of the clothes, so that the malposition has become habitual and seems to the mother quite natural. I do not assume that a child ought to be always holding his shoulders as far back as possible, but certainly there should be no impediment to his doing so. A child is naturally almost constantly moving, bending his back in all directions, sitting or standing upright, bending forwards and adopting all kinds of postures. Perfect freedom for all these movements should be allowed, and full extension of the back (the upright position) should be encouraged by every means. Sitting in a chair is not an ideal position for a child, because he cannot sit upright without a constant effort, and when the back gets tired the spine subsides into a stooping position, or into lateral curves. It is very rare that the back of a chair is constructed so as to support a child's back when sitting. The prone position (see p. 10) is the best, as it encourages full expansion of the chest, and allows the spine to assume its natural shape, provided always that the clothes do not interfere. Civilised custom requires the sitting posture at times, but we ought to lessen the evil of sitting by putting no impediment in the way of free expansion of the chest. The bad influence of narrow-chested clothes having been commenced is continued. A child having once been moulded into an abnormal figure by garments wrongly shaped in the manner described--either home-made or ready-made--there co...